Love & Basketball
by Kitkat23316
Summary: [Chapter 2 Up!][OtanixKoizumi][Takes Place around Volume 30 in the Manga or after Ep.19] I've decided to take interest in...well Otani's interests. Primarily basketball.
1. A Surprise Match?

A/N For those of you who didn't pick up from the anime or didn't already know, daisuki i love you. And though no one really uses Nobu's actual name which is Nobuko, I used it anyway..:) Enjoy!

**Love & Basketball**

Chapter 1 : A Surprise Match?

_Ever since Otani and I had become a couple, I've been falling more and more in love with him with each passing moment that we're together.. It makes me want to just yell it out to the whole world, but Otani would get mad and embarassed about that wouldn't he? Even though all of our friends know already.._

"Risa, you want to grab something to eat with everyone?" Nobuko suggested as they walked briskly into the gym. As they walked in they found Otani, Nakao, and the rest of the basketball team playing a well-advanced game according to the scorekeeper's recordings. They sat down on the bench and Nobu continued the conversation. "Aw..I wish my darling wasn't a benchwarmer.." "Nobu-chan it's al-" "BUT I'LL BE CHEERING FOR YOU ALL THE WAY!!!" Nobuko suddenly yelled across the gym to Nakao, who waved back and smiled. He yelled back, "Nobu-chan daisuki!!!" She yelled back again, "No! Dai-dai-dai-daisuki!!" "No Nobu-chan Dai-dai-dai-dai-daisuki!!!"And so forth this across-the-room conversation continued.

Risa sighed and pretended she didn't know Nobuko. But in truth she was actually thinking hard on something else..._Nobu-chan and Nakao-chan both share the same bubbly personality with each other...What do..Otani..and I...have in common..Nakao-chan and Nobu-chan both love being bubbly and somewhat annoying...What does...Otani love?  
_

"Koizumi."

Risa looked up sharply after waking up from her thinking world. It was Otani. He scratched his head uneasily. "Practice is going to run late because we want to train ourselves hard for the next finals." She looked down sadly. She wasn't going to walk home with Otani today. Otani realized and retorted, "Wh-What's with that expression?? I can skip it if you want me to!!" Risa's eyes widened. _Am I really that special to him that he would skip basketball which he loves to..._

She hatched a brilliant idea as a light bulb appeared above her head. _I mean, Kanzaki was head of the basketball club and they used to be a couple so..._

"I'll be right back!!" Risa got up and dashed out of the gym in a hurry, leaving everyone speechless with blank expressions.

Nobuko slapped her hand against her forehead, "Honestly, what is Risa thinking now...and why was there a light bulb above her head.." "Oh sorry my bad.." The school janitor laughed in a gruff voice and grabbed it down. She shook her head in dismay at this horrible pun, then glanced over at Otani, who remained speechless, blank-faced, and frozen in his spot. He finally moved, "What is she doing?"

They heard the back door to the gym smash open. It was still pretty bright outside... A figure appeared. "OTANI ATSUSHI!" A finger pointed directly at Otani who was shocked. "I've come to challenge you..." The figure chuckled and looked down slowly closing its eyes. "...to a one-on-one basketball game!!!!!!" The light dimmed a bit. It was Risa of all people!! She was wearing a basketball jersey and shorts, then white knee-highs and some _borrowed-without-asking_ basketball shoes from Nakao. Once again Otani was frozen and the whole basketball team was confused and stuck in a daze wondering what the hell was going on. "Aren't those _my_ shoes..." Nakao sighed and looked at his broken-into locker in the hall just outside of the gym.

Nobuko blinked. "RISA! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!?? GET BACK HERE!!!" She grabbed a basketball and walked towards Otani(still frozen in place!). "Yea that's right young lady you march RIGHT BACK HERE!!" Nobuko demanded, but she realized she wasn't walking towards her, but to Otani.

Risa put on a calm and cool expression, "So what do you say..." Otani still didn't react. "Uh..Hello?" Risa waved her hand in front of his face. He shook himself awake. "Wh-What makes you think I'll play against a girl let alone you?" He angrily spoke. Risa used the perfect comeback to paint him into a corner. She pouted cutely, "Aw...Is that any way to treat the girl you're dating?" Sure it was cute to anyone else, but not to Otani. He sighed, but suddenly all the rest of his teammates came up and kept smacking him on the head and yelling at him with strong phrases varying from "That's no way to treat a girl that cute you playboy!", "You're so sexist Otani, what's the difference between playing a girl and playing a guy?", "Just play like you would normally play..Jeez.", and "While you do that I'll go home..". Okay so the last one was actually just Nobuko's comment...

He walked towards Risa, " 'Kay, I'll do it." He grinned competitively. Risa smiled happily. _I remember playing basketball in elementary school with my friends...I hope I can impress him, because if he loves this and I love this he may come to love me even more._

Otani grabbed Risa's hand and pulled her to the middle of the court to start. Risa blushed a bit then smiled, _Why must I keep falling more in love with him? Is he like this by default?? Oh right...I'm..about to play basketball...against the captain of the basketball team, Otani...my boyfriend...What the hell was I thinking???_

And so the match between the All Hanshin-Kyojin couple commenced!

At the start-off Risa grabbed the ball first and headed to the hoop. Otani seemed a little surprised that she was so good without really playing the game much. _Damn the height difference this is how I lost the ball no way she would've gotten it if she was shorter!!_

Otani attempted to steal the ball. "Right! I got it." And he shot down the court and scored a nothing-but-net. "TIME-OUT!!!" Suddenly all their eyes were fixed on Nobuko who apparently was the one who yelled out. She motioned for Risa to come to her. Nobu whispered angrily to her, "Risa, if you really want to share the same interests as Otani why don't you show him some other way besides _completely_ embarassing yourself by losing! Listen to me, i'm telling you this as a friend, just train your ass off then try out for a girl's basketball team!!! Simple as that! I wanna go home!!!"

"Nobu-chan..you're right." Risa lost her confidence in this match hearing Nobuko's words. _I just want to do whatever he does...Plus I need an extracurricular to pass some time.._ "I'll just join the girl's basketball team at the league in my neighborhood!" She bubbled suddenly. Risa turned around and tried to hide her tears by smiling. "Um..I think I got a blister I'll head home!" Otani saw Risa's tears glitter away from her face as she ran out.

"Koizumi!!" Otani ran out and tried to catch up with her. _Why is she crying again..._


	2. Now That I Think About It

**Love & Basketball**

Chapter 2 : Now That I Think About It...

Otani started worrying. It was getting dark and she was all by herself crying. He became hell-bent on finding her. He searched the places surrounding the gym, then he moved further outward until he came to the park next to the school. He heard some quiet murmuring coming from a certain tree. "What the.." Otani sighed as he was positive that was Koizumi, and walked over to the tree. He hid on the other side of the tree for a while listening to what she was saying.

_"I..just want to do whatever he does..I can't stop myself sometimes and I just do things without thinking..out of love...ugh I really am an idiot."_

"A huge idiot."

Risa looked up and found herself face to face with Otani. "O-O..Ota.." But she could barely get his name out while she was crying.

Otani was surprised that she was crying so hard. He shoved his blue hankerchief in her face. _Oh no! How much did he hear??!? _

"Koizumi."

Risa looked up straight into his eyes while her tears continued to stream down her face.

"You're fine just the way you are. Don't ever change. Especially if it's just because of me. Just be yourself." His words touched her heart deeply. She reached out and hugged him, crying. Otani was surprised at first, but smiled and hugged her back. Risa pulled back and found that Otani had kissed her on the cheek. They both blushed and leaned against the tree.

"But...now that I think about it..It was fun playing basketball earlier.." Risa muttered and smiled as she looked down. Otani slammed his hand on the ground. "Are you serious?!? You're really going to join a basketball team? No way!"

"Yeah! I'll try my best!" She smiled and then laughed. Otani smiled back at Koizumi happily.

"Idiot."

"Yessir!" Koizumi replied bubbly. Suddenly her shorts got stuck on the tree's roots causing her head to fall on Otani's shoulder. For a moment they were stuck looking into each other's eyes. Otani broke the silence and smiled at Risa. "Listen, it's getting late. We should start heading home." He stood up and offered Risa his hand to help her up. She glanced at it and sighed happily as she took his hand. A pulsating feeling occured as their hands touched.

_This wonderful feeling. This feeling of love._

---

_Zzzzt! Zzzzt!_

She drearily reached for her cellphone and answered it.

"Koizumi. Let's head over to the gym and sign you up for their team." It was Otani. "But it's saturday..." She lazily said. "So??" He angrily retorted. "I always sleep in on saturday..." "Shut up! You're the one who wanted to do this in the first place!!" He yelled into the phone. "Yea.." She sighed/yawned. "I'll meet you at the gym in fifteen minutes." Otani said then hung up.

Risa rubbed her eyes then washed her face in the bathroom. _Yes, i'll do my best in front of him. Maybe I can really steal his whole heart through this..._ She bubbly thought to herself.

---

As Risa and Otani walked into the gym, they could hear the girls practicing in there begin to whisper. Fearing that some girls might take an interest in Otani she grabbed his hand and he smiled at her. The whispering increased. When they reached the reception desk Risa spoke. "Hi, I'd like to join the girl's basketball team." The receptionist replied, "Well I'll just go get the coach."

The receptionist returned with a tall boy about the same age as Risa and Otani. He had rocker-type hair and looked like he was one of the popular/cool kids at school. "This is your basketball coach. Please don't mistake him for an amateur, he's won three high-school league championships in a row." The receptionist smiled. For a moment Risa and Otani remained dumbfounded. "Nice to meet you, I'm Arima Kikuchi. I'm in the same grade as you, but I go to the school in the southern district. Well, I'll see ya on the court at practice...Risa-kun."

Risa looked up suddenly at Arima. Not even Otani calls Risa by her first name. Otani looked disturbed. "Wh-What are you doing calling her that when you just met her??" He furiously yelled at Arima, who continued walking towards his team and ignoring him. "Well, see ya later too...," He whispered under his breath so that only Otani could hear, "you midget." Steam puffed out of Otani's head, "Grrr..I don't like that guy Koizumi. Let's go." Otani took her hand and dragged her out of the gym.

---

Two of the basketball team's players/the two all-stars, Natsuki Sato and Minami Higa, confronted their coach.

"Hey Arima. Is that girl for real?" Minami scoffed. "Yeah seriously. And who was that shorty holding her hand? Probably her little brother..She's really tall too like you Arima!" Natsuki added. Minami suddenly butted in, "Wait I don't think that was her little brother. He seemed mature for his age, I think they're a couple..." Minami looked disgusted. Natsuki added again, " Seriously Minami?? He totally doesn't deserve her then Arima!!"

"Yeah...That's why..." He grinned.

"...I'll make her fall in love with me."


End file.
